


Lantern Slides In Space

by pointsInfinitely



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-29 02:17:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15062864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pointsInfinitely/pseuds/pointsInfinitely
Summary: Near-canon vignettes, sorted by season and (sometimes) episode!





	1. Season 1

**Author's Note:**

> COPYRIGHT: I do not own any of the Voltron stuff in this story and have no intention of stepping on anybody’s toes. No money is being made, this is all just for fun.

_Episode 1 - Lance_

They had a bad day, so Lance took his crew out for some air. Six hours later, he crawled into a big blue machine and found a message: “The universe needs you.” There is no air in space.

“It’s a space field trip!” Lance yodels as they peel through the layers of reality between planet Earth and space. Lance likes to yodel, it makes him feel better, although he doesn’t understand why. This isn’t a field trip.

_Episode 1 - Shiro_

“You haven’t seen these guys, I have.” Shiro’s need to convince them dominates the shack. Crystals of sand sparkle in the purple light of his arm. “They’ll come here someday, and we won’t have a chance. I don’t know why _we_ have to go, but.”

Shiro stops, the unsaid “We do,” hanging in the silence. Shiro believes that this is bigger than the five of them, sacred and important like a stone statue rimlit by the sun. He is also invested in this war. Shiro is hung deep into this fight, and he _wants_ them to have to go. He knows that.

Earth’s atmosphere thins around them and Hunk throws up in the maintenance panel. There’s no goodbye. Shiro believes a lot of things, like that these four cadets know what they committed to. They’re more likely to die than come home, is what he should have said. “We’re going to be defenders of the universe,” is what came out instead.

 

_Episode 1 - Allura_

Oh, yes. There are extra blankets in the closet on the third deck. Coran is looking for them right now. Please don’t touch that. Why don’t you walk out an airlock and come back with my real life? How about you come back with my father?

 

_Episode 1 - Lance_

Coran handed Lance the extra pillow, bid him a hearty sleep, and left him alone in this new room. Lance rolls over and over again, an unhappy turntable. The sheets are too starchy.

It seems like this spaceship should rock like a boat, but space doesn’t have waves, does it? “Rock and roll,” he used to howl as seawater sprayed the sails, and his Mama would tell him not to steer so fast or they’d all fall out of the boat.

Don’t, Lance tells himself. The blank ceiling reappears above him. He’s seventeen and still afraid to close his eyes. He wonders how he’s expected to sleep in space. He likes hot tubs and summer rain. He’s afraid of worms. He gets touchy about things that Pidge and Hunk never notice. “You’re not very rough and tumble,” Pidge said to Lance once. Their words still bubble up when he likes himself least.

 

_Episode 1 - Pidge_

No more tin hat jokes, Pidge muses. Pidge knew this would happen. This was the plan, they whisper at the ceiling as they crawl under the sheets in their day clothes.

“Why do you always sleep in your clothes?” Hunk once asked Pidge, a month into their studies.

“Habit,” They responded, and then pretended to fall asleep very fast.

Are Lance and Hunk asleep yet? Lance is still awake, Pidge figures. He’s always tossing around. Is it even night on Earth? Between the windows full of shifting stars and the glowing turquoise panels, it’s hard to keep track of time. Pidge bets the interplanetary equivalent of jetlag is keeping everyone awake. ~~~~

_Episode 2 - Allura_

Dear diary, yesterday I knocked on my father’s door to offer my assistance and a bodyguard turned me away. He’s scared to let me help now. Today I woke up in a freeze tube.

Allura sinks into her cushioned mattress and stares at the bedspread. Fit for a princess, Coran told her when he showed her through the door 10,006 years ago. Her father thought of everything. Allura had never stayed on a ship with her own room before. It didn’t feel like home, more like an especially personalized hotel room, but she liked it.

            Her father knew she’d live here someday. Did he know it’d be the only thing left? “It’s okay pet,” Allura imagined King Alfor saying over the first dinner they’d had in a month. “Everyone is dead, but the wallpaper was chosen special just for you.” She had always been a pink and purple kind of kid.

            I’m the only one left. Allura begins to form a mantra. I am the last of the rebellion. It’s my job now, I have to fix this.

Ten thousand. Allura tries out the words. It doesn’t feel like ten thousand years ago. She eats with the five new human paladins and every time she takes a bite, she tastes the food she ate yesterday.

_Episode 2 - Pidge_

“Open your mind,” The guy with the orange hair explains.

Thoughts slip between the five humans, blinking in and out of sight. Breakfast – focus –what are we doing – shut up – opening my mind opening my mind – my mom (Lance’s mom) – an alien is telling me to focus – who’s talking – we’re in space – don’t touch.

Don’t touch, Pidge thinks. Don’t think. Last week in the locker rooms, Lance and Hunk and a bunch of other cadets shared lengths. A bonding exercise. “Pidge, what’s yours?” Someone asked. “Hey, where are you?”

“Super long,” Pidge yelled from the toilet.

“Are you sure? You’re pretty short.”

“All my height is concentrated elsewhere,” Pidge explained. They could feel their heart beating.

“Damn, Pidge. We’re never gonna believe that.” The voice was getting closer. “Come show us.”

Pidge flushed. “I’ve got class,” they said, and pushed out of the stall.

Opening my mind opening my mind – Pidge you’re in the way – focus – DON’T TOUCH. The hum of thoughts dissipates and the five humans stumble back. “Pidge,” Lance asks. “What the hell?”

 

_Episode ?? - Allura_

It’s been three weeks of catch up training and surprise attacks, no time to think. Maybe that’s for the better. Allura lets the paladins go for dinner, and Coran lingers on the bridge. “How are you holding up?” Coran’s eyes crinkle with concealed care.

“Alright, considering,” Allura says, looking away.

“You’re one of the most impressive young people in the history of the universe, you know that?”

“Thank you Coran,” Allura says. “I appreciate it.”

“You really don’t, do you?” Coran looks sad. He used to weird Allura out – his overwhelming enthusiasm was too much. She used to wish he’d stop smiling.

“It’s like we went to sleep and woke up in another world,” Allura tells Coran.

“Well, then maybe you know how they feel,” Coran points to the kitchen, where the humans are screeching Earth obscenities. “They didn’t even get a nap first.”

Allura hasn’t thought about that but it makes sense. She tries to imagine what it’s like for the humans. The yellow one. He seems relatable. She looks for pride in Coran’s compliment. She can’t feel anything at all.

_Episode ?? - Lance_

“It’s like, the days are star studded,” Lance says to Keith over breakfast. He’d say it to Hunk, but Hunk is done eating, and Pidge is nowhere, so Keith it is. “We wake up in the morning and – stars! We go outside and shoot up other people’s spaceships and fly through the stars! If this life were Lucky Charms, the cheerios would be stars, and the planets would be marshmallows.”

“Shut up,” Keith says, without expression. He stands up and leaves without another word.

“Sorry, geez,” Lance mutters at Keith’s unfinished breakfast.

 

_Episode ?? - Lance_

“Lean left!” Coran hollers. He stumbles into the blue lion’s controls as Lance yanks the wheel, dropping their stomachs with the enemy attackers.

“Wow, didn’t know I could do that,” Lance yelps, pulling to a stop behind a slippery outcropping. Lance didn’t spot any bodies of water on the way in, but the entire planet is drenched. Lance wants to wring it out, like a wet rag.

After catching his breath, Coran says, “Gosh, when I was a kid, I’d skip a meal for a trick like that one.” Lance stands up and Blue opens up her maw with a grunt. Damp air spills into the cockpit.

“Well Coran, welcome to the new age,” Lance regrets the words as Coran’s face drops. It’s okay, Lance is used to regretting words.

Blue snaps her maw shut behind them. They make their way down the cliffside, stopping briefly to knock out a couple guards. “Lance,” Coran begins.

“What’s up, Commander Carrot?” Lance glances at Coran.

“I’m sorry, what’s a carrot?”

“It’s an Earth thing,” Lance sighs. “Forget it.”

“Lance,” Coran tries again. “Is life really as much of a laugh to you as you make it out to be?”

Lance stops walking and gives his response a moment of contemplation. “I don’t know,” He says finally. “How ridiculous does this life seem to you?”

“Quite a lot, actually,” Coran says. They keep moving.

 

_Episode ?? - Allura_

The war is back in business. Allura dresses herself – Coran offered to help when they first woke up and she refused – and thinks about what she’ll say to this planet’s regent leader. Right now, she’s in the process of seeking out the last slivers rebellion and rousing them back to action. That’s the theory, anyway. A decent plan, if she says so herself. It’s naturally a difficult job. This is one of her first successfully scheduled meetings.

Pidge escorts her from the castle to the planet. The Regent Leader shakes her hand, a firm grip followed by a greeting. “You look good these days. My condolences...” The Regent pauses.

“Don’t,” Allura tells him. His condolences on Allura’s loss? Her condolences on ten thousand years of suffering.

“My condolences on your failure,” The Regent finishes anyway.

 

_Episode ?? - Pidge_

Pidge isn’t in the kitchen to eat - burning loss has replaced their stomach, which means that’s not happening. It’s just the only place in the castle that feels like nighttime. The absence of windows allows Pidge to ignore the lack of days in deep space, and the unfeeling, white lighting is almost fluorescent. Like a basement.

The rest of “the fam” have gone to sleep, but Pidge is not not awake, so they’re up. Working. They’re not sure what they’re working on. If they stay completely still and play their music really loud, their brain doesn’t ask any questions.

Earlier, Lance plunked down next to them and asked why they seemed so unhappy. Pidge asked what prerequisite required that they be happy about hurtling alone through space looking for their lost family. Lance slunk off without a response. Lance’s projected “Wow, spaceships, cool!” facade was wearing them ragged. Like, GOD Lance, find a less grating coping mechanism than uber-positivity. Yeah. Maybe Pidge does have something to learn from Lance.


	2. Season 2

_Episode ?? - Hunk_

The stars are out when Hunk gets up. His room is empty – he knows Pidge and Lance have started to decorate theirs, but he always let them take the lead when they were roommates. He’s not used to having his own space and it feels lacking. Now I have infinite space, Hunk notes.

The soft blue kitchen lights glow brighter when he enters. He opens the cooler door with a shfff, and pushes aside a jar of some previous concoction. He spreads his gourmet acquisitions out on the counter. Chopped food begins to pile – a dusty purple root, a tangled yellow vegetable. He uses his bayard as a knife. Alteans weren’t much for cooking, Hunk understands. They preferred automated food preparation, so he’s had to make do with the tools he can get his hands on.

The rhythmic bp, bp, bp of knife against counter feels meditative. “Ma, you’ll be late,” Hunk calls out from the kitchen. The pasta dances on the stove, spitting up steam. Nickelodeon watches Hunk’s siblings on the living room TV.

Hunk roots around in the cabinet for some parmesan and then turns down the pasta. “Ma, are you awake?” Hunk walks down the hall towards his mother’s room. The door is closed. “Your interview is in like thirty minutes,” He says, and knocks again. There’s no answer.

Hunk goes back to his pasta and drains the water over the sink. He pops open a jar of sauce, no sweat, and pours it on the pasta before it sticks together. The pasta fills two colored bowls, one for Tye and one for Eve. He sprinkles cheese on top and sticks a carrot in the side. “Bow ties,” he yells into the living room, and his sisters come running. When Hunk was little, Ma told him that bow tie pasta made his stomach fancy.

Bp. Hunk slides the root onto a heated metal saucer. It begins to sizzle. He worked for this position, he thinks to himself. He climbed his way up from the bottom to give himself a life for his family to live off of and wound up chopping purple sweet potatoes in a space ship. He hopes Ma has a job now.

_Episode ?? - Keith_

Keith sits in his empty bedroom, running his fingers along the blade of his knife, and wonders if this is what it feels like to have a job. You do a thing and people give you other things. At first it felt more like the Garrison than anything else, with the training and Shiro hopping around like the Energizer Bunny. It’s been a few months. Allura and Coran look tired. Pidge shows up to be invested and do the techno when something happens. She – they? Keith isn’t sure – disappears whenever else. They’re here for personal reasons.

Everybody’s got a personal reason. A family. Lance cries over his in the bathroom. Sometimes when Hunk’s rambling he’ll slip out something about a Tye or an Eve and just stop speaking. The rest of the team _misses_ something. When they win a battle, they cheer for Earth’s safety. Keith has nothing to miss. I don’t belong anywhere, emotionally, Keith thinks. Emotional belonging, a concept he didn’t know his brain contained. He slips his knife under the mattress and turns out the light.

 

_Episode ?? - Allura_

Kolivan wants to go in now. “You’ve had a good idea, Allura. If we strike them while they’re in another battle, we’ll throw off their plan.”

“Oh, well, what if that is their plan?” Allura didn’t mean to agree. She’s slipped off balance. “What if they’re only attacking to encourage us to step in?”

Keith frowns. “You think they’ll swarm us when we get there.” Keith loves these people. Allura isn’t used to seeing Keith like anything.

“With your robot on our side, we’ll make it either way,” Kolivan’s words snap. “I think we should get going.”

“Of course,” Allura says. “I’ll be right back.”

In the bathroom reflector screen, Allura tries to meet her own eyes. She can’t do it. There’s so much hatred in them. She feels like a basilisk – if she sees her own reflection, she’ll turn to stone. Kolivan is an ally, and she wants to watch him fall apart. The things people with his genetics had the sick ambition to do to people with hers. Sometimes when her blood boils too hot to live with, she considers other options. There aren’t any, really. No one can go on without her. _They need me._ She repeats these words until they lose their meaning and take on a rhythmic quality.


End file.
